The Marlins' dominance of the Nationals — they're now 49-18 against Washington since 2008, not to mention 26-8 at Nationals Park since it opened, 7-1 this season — defies explanation. So I'm really not going to try to surmise why this has been the case. All I'll say is this: If the Nats are serious about ascending in the NL East, they simply have to start beating Florida.

The challenge will be upon Chien-Ming Wang this afternoon to try to reverse the trend. The right-hander continues to tease us with glimpses of what he can be, though aside from one dominant outing in Chicago, he's struggled to put it all together.

Rookie left-hander Brad Hand (1-7, 4.02 ERA) gets the start for the Marlins. He'll face a Nats lineup that includes Jayson Werth in center field and Jonny Gomes in right field.

As much as I hate to say it, I'll be focusing on the Skins game today. I've found myself skipping over games vs. the Fish and will probably do so until something changes. Mark's right…if they're serious about improving in the division, losing to Florida over and over again cannot be tolerated. Unfortunately, Davey's comments on the disparity aren't encouraging.

Jason Werth is no better than the 3rd best centerfielder on the current team – he continues to fall below expectations – he should be benched for the rest of the year or play right fielf and bat 6th or 7th.

Won't be focusing on the pointy-ball game, but will be out and about today. Have set the DVR to record and will hope to watch the replay of a win later (hey, a fan can hope).(And that's why they play the games, Anon @ 11:31.)

The reorganization of this team at the mgr level needs to start with the batting coach and the first base coach. Davey (he's probably going to stay if you believe Boswell) says he's going to rework his staff. For X's sake, let's hope he gets somebody who knows what's going on. He put that guy on the staff, he said, because he wants someone out there who's older than he is. Older and dumber?

I'm disappointed we have not seen more of Lombardozzi in the middle infield. We've seen Desmond and his deficiencies for two full seasons and Espinosa and his fall from ROY consideration for one. Rendon played some second base in college. I would like to see what else we have. I don't care how good the pitching is, this team is going nowhere without better hitting.

To: The DevilSubj: Hitting and SoulOne slightly used soul available in exchange for several consistently good hitting ballplayers. Power hitting not required but definitely okay. No long periods of coldness followed by scorching hotness perferred (no offense intended); have too many like that already. OBO

Note that it took a rookie called up only 3 weeks ago (Marrero) to hit even a minimally effective sac fly. And Espi — finally back to his clutch RISP pre-ASG ways!Now let's see if Marrero can do it again.Hah! So much the better, oppo double!

Like I said in the previous thread, I think Selig's has gotten the umps on a vendetta against the Nats to get back at Lerner for his overslot signings. Pitchtrack proved that 1-1 pitch to Stanton was inarguably a strike, then he loses Stanton on a 3-1 single. Converse of Bell's (last night home plate ump) extra six inches on the Marlins' pitchers' strike zone.Good that Wang is showing himself again enough of a pro go pitch himself through it without more damage. Good jammage on left-hander Dobbs..

With Livan out of the rotation for good (and presumably the long reliever in 2012), the team desperately needs a veteran presence next year. Based on the way Wang has pitched this summer, he will be at least as effective as Livan the past couple of years and probably better. Unless the Nationals make a trade for a veteran starter, I think we'll see the rotation next year looking this way:1-Stephen Strasburg2-Jordan Zimmermann3-John Lannan4-Chien Ming Wang5-Brad Peacock/Tom MiloneIf the Nationals' offense awakes from its year-long snooze, that is certainly a plus-.500 rotation.If Werth returns to (near)form in 2012 and Adam LaRoche hits his career average (.267-26-92), the Nationals should be an 85-88 win team, perhaps even 90 if Ian Desmond and Danny Espinosa play as well as we thought they might this past spring.

I don't think Livo is brought back. Love him big time, but it is time to move on.We have no use for him in the bullpen, especially considering how long he takes to warm up. And we have the long men, Detwiler and Stammen.StorenClippardHenryBurnettSeverinoDetwilerStammen

Barring a trade or free agent pick-up, don't be suprised if Detwiler is in the rotation coming out of Spring Training next year. He's out of options and Milone and Peacock are not.That doesn't mean that Milone or Peacock might not push someone out of the rotation sometime during the season.